Doors are configured in many different ways, but no matter the door configuration, a lock mechanism that securely holds the door in place frequently is desired. Swinging doors often are used for building or room entrances. Oftentimes when multiple doors are utilized unique locking challenges are presented. For example, opposed swinging doors often are required to lock to each other rather than a stationary frame or jam, the doors often require a more robust and unique locking mechanism.
Movable wall panels also present challenges. Movable wall panels are used to divide an area into two or more regions. For example, movable wall panels are employed in schools, hotels, and convention centers to divide a large room into two or more smaller rooms. Another common use of movable wall panels is the formation of individual shop fronts within a mall. Clear glass panels are typically stored during business hours to produce a wide-open storefront, and are disposed in front of the storefront during off-business hours to permit the viewing of merchandise.
Movable wall panel systems typically include several components, such as wall panels, trolleys coupled to the wall panels, and tracks within which the trolleys can slide and displace the wall panels. The wall panels often are large planar structures that may be freestanding or attached to one another end-to-end. Many modern applications of wall panel systems utilize freestanding wall panels in order to allow greater versatility over systems using wall panels that are attached end-to-end.
Lock mechanisms often are included on swinging doors and movable wall panels that allow at least some of the doors or panels to be coupled to the floor. Various lock mechanisms have been developed for directly coupling a door to a floor. For example, some doors utilize floor bolts that are actuated at the bottom of the door, such as with a pedal or a lock cylinder mounted on the door adjacent the floor. Such floor bolts potentially can bind or jam and a user is required to bend or squat down to adjust or release the bolt, which is inconvenient, uncomfortable and dirty.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,284,409 relates to a bolt structure device that allows a lower corner of a door to be latched to a floor. The device is attached to a glass panel having a recess that extends over the lower corner of the panel from a first face to a lower face of the panel. A shoe portion, or covering, is used to cover the recess and to provide a mount for the bolt structure. The bolt structure includes a lever that is coupled to a sliding bolt so that rotation of the lever causes the bolt to slide vertically into or out of locked engagement with a socket provided in the floor. The lever is provided adjacent the sliding bolt at the lower corner of the door on an engagement surface of the door. A deficiency of this arrangement is that a user is required to bend down to activate the bolt structure. In addition, in installations utilizing two swinging doors, only one door can utilize the bolt structure because after the first door is locked in place a bolt structure on the second door becomes inaccessible when the second door is closed.
Attempts have been made to relocate the activation mechanism for vertical bolts to more convenient locations (i.e., further up the door from the floor). For example, various handles and frames incorporating vertical bolts have been utilized. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,537 relates to a lock for a glass door that utilizes a pair of housings mounted to opposite surfaces of the door panel and spaced from an engagement edge of the door panel. The housings are located on opposite sides of the glass panel and bolted together so that a portion of the glass panel is clamped there between. The first housing provides a means for mounting a lock cylinder and the second housing is a rigid channel that contains the vertical bolt lock mechanism and a lock cylinder. Although the mechanism provides access to a user, in that the pair of housings is mounted to opposite surfaces of the door panel, the effective thickness of the panel substantially is increased. In addition, because the housings extend away from the door panel, they are more susceptible to damage.
In similar devices, a vertical bolt is integrated into an elongate handle that extends at least from a standard lock height to the floor. The vertical bolt extends through a bore extending the entire length of the handle and the handle is spaced from the door. Because the bolt is integrated into a handle, the effective thickness of the door is increased due to the spacing of the handle away from the door panel. A further disadvantage is that handles with integrated vertical bolts are expensive to manufacture.
Some known arrangements provide vertical bolts but those attempts have provided additional disadvantages. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,892,338 and 6,490,895 to Weinerman et al. describe a flush mountable operating mechanism, e.g., a paddle handle, that activates a pair of vertical bolts by applying tension to a pair of elongate members, e.g., cables or rods. The elongate members are spaced from the engagement edge of the door. A disadvantage of such a system is that the door panel is hollow or alternatively bores are created through a solid core door to provide a path for the tension members. A further disadvantage is that when a transparent door panel is desired the tension members reduce the transparent surface area of the panel.
Accordingly, there is a need for a door lock system that includes a floor bolt, and does not require bending or direct engagement to operate.
There is also a need for a door lock system that does not increase the effective thickness of the door panel or minimally does so.
There is a further need for a door lock system that simplifies manufacture of a door panel assembly.
There is yet a further need for a door lock system that reduces impairment of the transparent surface area of transparent doors.